Month: April 2010

According to the LA Times, Dwayne Polee, Jr. of Westchester High School is set to announce at halftime of a high school All-Star game (that he is in) which school he will be attending next year – Georgia, UNLV or St. John’s (UTEP is now out of the mix).

According to the New York Daily News, Westchester High senior wingman Dwayne Polee, Jr. has added St. John’s University to his mix of potential schools.

Polee’s list has now expanded to include Georgia, UNLV (where his father played), UTEP (where former USC coach Tim Floyd was recently hired) and the Red Storm.

Polee announced in March that he would announce his decision at the beginning of April…it appears that he meant to say early May.

What does everyone think about Fox’s chances of landing this kid? I felt better about it last week when Georgia was the only school he was considering from a major conference – now CMF has to compete with the Johnnies from the Big East.

With Thompkins and Travis Leslie returning, the Dawgs are sure to have two preseason All-SEC first-team players.

The Dawgs have not had star-power like Thompkins and Leslie since the 2002-2003 season that featured Jarvis Hayes and Ezra Williams.

But Trey and Travis are not the only reasons to be excited about next year’s squad. The Dawgs have a lot of great supporting players to compliment them as well, and Coach Fox should have a rather deep bench at his disposal.

Junior guard Gerald Robinson, Jr. will give Georgia something it hasn’t had since the departure of Sundiata Gaines – a point guard that can penetrate and create his own shot.

Junior Dustin Ware should slide into the two-guard slot nicely, and fill the slot that Ricky McPhee vacated.

Senior power forward Jeremy Price could break out for a huge senior season. Price had some big games down the stretch in last season’s SEC schedule – scoring 13 in a win over Florida and 19 in the loss in Athens to Kentucky. Coach Fox mentioned several times last year that he couldn’t wait to have Price for a full off-season to help with his conditioning and inside game.

Georgia’s bench will feature several players that saw significant minutes this year – Ebuka Anyaorah, Chris Barnes and Vincent Williams – to go along with sharp-shooting transfer guard Sherrard Brantley.

Now that Trey has made it official and decided to return, I think it’s fair to say that Georgia should be a contender in the SEC East.

And don’t get too excited, but apparently ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has the Dawgs as a 19-seed slated to take on 14th-seeded Miami in the first round of next year’s potential 96-team NCAA Tournament.

Polee led Westchester High School to its second straight LA city and California Division I state championships. He averaged 21 points and 8 rebounds a game, and apparently is a lot more than just a dunker – check out the article, it’s a good quick read.

The most interesting piece of news that I took away from the article is that Polee, Jr. has narrowed his choices down to UNLV, Georgia and UTEP (New Mexico used to be in his “Big Three”).

Why UTEP? Former Southern Cal coach Tim Floyd was hired as the Miners’ new skipper last month. Remember, Polee originally signed with USC, but he was permitted to de-commit once it became clear that the Trojans basketball team was going to get hit with a plethora of NCAA sanctions.

Polee also stated last March that he would make his decision by the beginning of April. Well here we are at April 8th and according to the Daily Breeze he will announce it “in a few weeks” – that’s the end of April according to my Mayan calendar.

Could Polee be waiting to see what Georgia’s beloved Howard Thompkins III is planning on doing next year as far as the NBA Draft is concerned? If Trey returns to Athens for his junior season, the Bulldogs will be a contender to win the SEC East, and should be primed to get a bid to next season’s NCAA tournament – a very appealing scenario for an incoming freshman phenom (like Polee).

ESPN’s Andy Katz has Georgia listed as one of his “Three Sleepers” for 2010-2011 – obviously this depends heavily on the return of Thompkins.

This is pure speculation on my part, but I think that if Trey comes back next year to play for Georgia then Polee will commit to Mark Fox’s Dawgs as well.

I loved watching Ricky McPhee play last season, and I will miss seeing him on the court next year – his timely three’s and relentless effort will be difficult for Mark Fox to replace.

However, that being said, Fox may have found a potential substitute – 6’2″ shooting guard Sherrard Brantley of Northwest Florida Community College.

According to Brantley’s latest Facebook status update (is this what recruiting is evolving into?) Brantley stated, “just committed to University of Georgia. happy to finally get done with this stuff. thanks to everybody who keeping up with me.”

Sounds like the Dublin, Georgia native is going to be a Dawg next season. Brantley chose Georgia over LSU and Creighton.

From what I have read about this kid, it appears that he is a more athletic (see the picture above) version of Ricky McPhee. His coach at NWFCC, Bruce Stewart, deemed him the “best catch-and-shoot shooter in the country”.

Note

Former Southern Cal basketball recruit Dwayne Polee, Jr. is supposed to announce in “early April” where he will sign for next season. According to an article published in the LA Times, Polee stated that UNLV, New Mexico and Georgia are recruiting him the hardest.

Polee’s father, Dwayne Sr., played for UNLV in the 80’s under Jerry Tarkanian.